Blog

The importance of safe, stable and secure housing in promoting wellbeing and positive mental health cannot be overstated. The Housing Team strive to support people to find appropriate accommodation as well as manage and maintain existing tenancies more effectively. 216 service users were supported in the last year. Outcome Star Scores for the year demonstrate significant improvements – especially around tenancy management and improved mental health. Service user feedback from recent questionnaires has been very positive about Touchstone’s Housing Service: 100% of service

Touchstone’s SADEE SMILE project was a nine month pilot aimed at improving self-management of Type 2 diabetes within South Asian communities. Each course ran as an eight week structured diabetes education programme tailored specifically for South Asians and delivered in community languages (Urdu and Panjabi). The project was funded by Leeds City Council Public Health and delivered in partnership with Leeds Health Care NHS Trust and Health Together and Leeds Beckett University. The key outcome for the programme was for South Asians diagnosed with Type

Dosti is an Asian Women’s support service based in Leeds, offering a supportive environment for Asian women with mental health issues. In April 2016, Dosti joined Touchstone via a merger. Services are only offered through referrals which can be self-referrals or referrals from other professionals such as GPs. Access to the service is fast and in most cases the contact time is within one week of the referral being received. We offer one-to-one emotional support, counselling, relaxation techniques, CAB and advocacy support. Our services

The Recovery Centre at Asket House is an innovative partnership project comprising Touchstone, LYPFT, Community Links and Leeds Mind. Touchstone employs two full-time recovery workers, whose role is to form supportive relationships with service users on ward, then support them to move out into the community. Once the transition is complete, recovery workers can continue to provide support for an additional six months. The ethos behind the new project is that providing strong support following a move from hospital back into the community will

Over the last year, the Support Centre has been busy implementing a new service model which includes: more peer-led social groups and popup groups; volunteers supporting different groups – such as the Women’s Group – Men’s Group and Social Group. Contributions from five Social Work students who have been on placement from Bradford University have also helped to support the change required to deliver a service that is sustainable and continues to meet the diverse needs of our service users. The new model

Touchstone works in partnership with Leeds Mind and Community Links to support individuals to achieve their employability goals. All clients are referred to the Touchstone worker via the community mental health teams in Leeds where the Employment Specialists are co-located. Touchstone has one allocated worker a Mental Health Employment Specialist who offers a client centred approach to identifying Employment, Training and Education goals through one-to-one and Group work. The Employment Specialist may also support the individual to access sessions that support a client

After having an epileptic fit I became very poorly. I couldn’t communicate with people – verbally or otherwise. I became very distant from everyone. The impact on my family was huge. Everybody was stressed and worried about me all the time. My dad lost his sense of humour and my parents took time off work to look after me. It didn’t make any sense to me at all. I was trapped, I knew what I wanted to say but I